November 2016 Runner Of The Month

November 2016 Runner Of The Month

Each month, one runner from MELBOURNE PACK will win a special award for being the “Runner of the Month”. This may involve a person running a PB, fighting adversity, winning their age division in a race, defying the ageing process or several other achievements.
The prize is:
a) A copy of the book OLDER YET FASTER by Keith Bateman and Heidi Jones
b) A Run for Your Life magazine 12-month subscription.
c) A pair of Swiftwick socks from 4TheRunners, an online running store where you can order running gear and nutrition. See how to order at www.4therunners.com

The winner of the MELBOURNE PACK Runner of the Month for November 2016 is Gayle Evangelista. Since starting with the group in May aged 59, Gayle has made massive inroads into her fitness levels. On starting in May Gayle, could only run 100m at 10 minutes per km pace before having to walk. She was taking well over an hour to cover 5km. After two months of training she broke 60 minutes in her first ParkRun. She has whittled her PB down to 36.22 in November and is super keen to keep improving. Best of all she is enjoying running with our group. Gayle is incredibly inspirational to all of us with her determination and positive thinking. She is now stepping up the distances she is running and beginning to eye off some longer races.

Gayle is now training with MELBOURNE PACK on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a combination of sessions on either:

a) the beautiful grass 400m running track at Edithvale or
b) the pristine, nicely groomed trails that meaner through the Edithvale wetlands.
On Sundays the group usually complete a relaxed paced long run around Mordialloc, Aspendale, Edithvale, Chelsea, Bonbeach and Patterson River.

Some of the races that MELBOURNE PACK are preparing for in the near future include the Carmen’s Women’s half marathon, The Two Bays 28km Trail race, The Portsea Twilight Fun Run, The Rip to River 10km, The Queen of the Lake and the Mountain to Lorne 8km.